Gbetu TV (News They Are Not Talking About)
In Igbo land, elders are respected individuals who are older than others, mainly behave in respectful & dutiful ways. Some people call them Okenye, others call Deede, Nnanyi Ukwu, Dimkpa, etc; we equally have Dimkpakpakpa, that is, elders in age but they are either empty in brain or evil.
There is no official age that makes one an elder, but a lot of circumstances can make one an elder, including death. One can be an elder in this village, but his mates in another village are not elders yet. In a situation, where the oldest man in a particular kindred or family, is 55 years old, he is automatically an elder in that kindred/family, but in another kindred or family, there are more than 15 persons that are above 70 years old, including the oldest man there that is 105 years old, those supposed elders in the same age grade of 55 to 58 years old are not yet elders, despite their mate who is an elder in the other family/kindred. That’s why, when we travel to marry, some of the elders in our potential in-laws’ place are old, while in other places, some elders among our potential in-laws are very young. Real elders equally check such attribute and it can stop marriage… Yes, if in the family we want to marry from, no man has lived above sixty years old there, an elder can reject such union (marriage) or find out first, why it was/is so.
In Igbo land, we have young elders from 60 years and above, while those above 70 years old are elders, then those above 80, 90 & 100 years old are more elderly than others, they can be called Okenye. In Igbo land, we say, Okenye a naghi anó n’ulo, Ewu a múò n’óbu, which means, “An old man those not allow or condone wrong & bad things to happen/occur before him.
There is another Igbo adage that says, “Ihe Dimkpa nó n’ala hu, nwatakiri rigoro osisi Orji, ó gaghi ahu ya”… “What an elder saw while sitting down, even if a child climbs the tallest Iroko tree, he will not see it”. Ofcourse we all know the adage that says, “Words of elders are words of wisdom”. In addition, when an elder wants to bless you, he will not tell you “you shall build a house, buy a car, have this or that”, he will rather say, “You shall live more than my age (95 years old), achieve more than I achieved, have more children, you shall see your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, your children shall train/feed you well, your shall play and be blessed with your grandchildren and great grandchildren”,…… then your answer shall be, “iseeee!, iseeeeeeeee!!, iseeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!”, “iseee” means, Amen!., therefore you can equally answer “Amen! Amen!! Amen!!!”.
SOME THINGS TO KNOW OR TALK ABOUT OUR ELDERS.
NOTE: Much as we know that we all need elders around us, especially in certain difficult issues, we should equally be very much careful of the greedy and evil ones, they can ruin one’s life, therefore, it is better to be watching the elders with ones eyes, unless you are convinced that such elders are not evil, some of them can use the money or anything you give to them to bring you down, some of them can equally bring you down because you did not give them anything, while some can bring you down because you are doing well their children are not doing well.
The best elder and oldest man in the world who is reliable, dependable, unchangeable, unshakeable, unstoppable and inevitable, is Jehovah God, always run to Him in prayers, good behaviour, etc, He knows it all, has never failed before, His time is the best.
May the Good Lord who created Heaven & Earth, help us to be elders, especially good and recognized elders, in our families, kindreds, communities, associations, clubs, groups, offices, etc, in Jesus Mighty Name I pray…… Amen!!!.
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Rotn. Prince A.A.A Nwankwo. SAN = Senior Applicant of Nigeria.
{Anchor Antiquity Blue Blooded Prince AAA}.
0803,660,3662.
[A Prolific cum Proficient Chronicler, A Trained & Certified Journalist, An Anchor/M.C, An Author of 5 Interesting Books].
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